Who’s Working Effectively to Address Homelessness in Santa Cruz County?

While HPHP is a county entity rather than a nonprofit, each of the four sources spoke highly of its efforts countywide.

Newman puts it simply: “HPHP, they’re probably doing more than anybody, numbers wise and quality wise. I’ve been in there a million times with people, and they’re stellar and hardcore.”

The group, one of four health clinics within the county’s Health Services Agency, focuses on providing comprehensive health care and housing to the unhoused. The professional team conducts regular outreach in different encampments, and provides as follows for those experiencing homelessness and other low-income populations:

• Primary care
• Integrated behavioral health (therapy and psychiatry) 
• Wound care
• Benefits advocacy

The Watsonville-based organization Community Action Board aims to eliminate poverty and create social change through a variety of different programs. The organization further works toward its mission with a tripartite board, made up of low-income representatives from across the county, elected officials, and private sector representatives.

Perez notes the organization’s focus on youth homelessness, with the Youth Homelessness Response Team in conjunction with the County Office of Education. That program focused on youth at risk in the school and/or justice system, to assist them and help to head off homelessness or resolve homelessness where it existed.

Further, she made note of two of the organization’s former programs:

1. The Watsonville Works program, which provided workforce training to those experiencing homelessness.
2. The Flex Funding program, which with $700,000 in county funding provides flexible spending dollars for getting housed (i.e., toward landlord incentives, moving trucks, security deposits).

“In South County, I think CAB has an outsized role, partly because they touch so many families who are in a high-need situation,” Perez says. “They are big poverty fighters in South County.”

Newman praises CAB’s Watsonville Works program, which she considers a similar model to the Santa Cruz DST: “They have a big impact in South County.”

The 180 Together program, created by Housing Matters, has gone through many names over its tenure, but its mission is clear: to end chronic homelessness, or homelessness that has lasted for at least one year or for many different time periods.

Since its launch in 2012, the program has housed 1,000 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Currently, the program is participating in the Built for Zero campaign with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, working to set goals and strategies to achieve their continued mission.

The program model works in partnership with the Housing Authority, Perez notes, before lauding the 180 Together model: “The retention rates are really high. … That program really deserves recognition because it is a model that is effective, and it has worked and will continue to work in getting people housed.”

Newman believes that, with the larger pot of federal funds currently allocated to Housing Matters, the organization as a whole will also do a lot more with flexible funding, including paying people’s security deposits or car maintenance.

Newman also shouts out the Rebele Family Shelter at Housing Matters for its efforts: “If anyone was housing people, it was the Rebele Shelter for a long time.”

Over the last decade, the organization has sponsored nightly transitional shelter for unhoused community members across Santa Cruz and Aptos. In addition to providing safe parking and shelter options, the organization has also worked to provide needed items, such as warm socks and showers, and alleviate the homeless experience through prepared warm meals.

AFC provides its sheltering options and programming at faith communities countywide, across a wide span of denominations.

“They are a great group,” Newman says. “They've benefited so much from shelter-in-place and being able to keep their rotating shelter in solid locations for a very long time.”

She believes that, if the organization was able to stay in secure locations, it could have even further positive impact.

Regarding the AFC’s weekly Shower Ministry Service—serving up to 160 persons every week—Perez says the organization is one of just a few left in the county providing that service to the unhoused.

The nonprofit—which spans to 16 communities across Central and Northern California—focuses on providing unhoused individuals the chance to volunteer in street cleanup and beautification projects, while working toward personal and professional goals.

Locally, Downtown Streets Team has been in existence since 2017 (with Newman at its helm), funded through a mix of city and private donations. The organization celebrated its five-year anniversary this August, with a community celebration on Aug. 11.

“A big asset there is the community it provides,” Newman says. “They do everything other than sheltering and medical, but case management, housing, employment—all of that stuff.”

Newman admits her bias toward her former organization, but that doesn’t discredit its significant work in the community—and all three other sources agreed about its impact.

“I do think they do good work, and they’re really important. They play an important niche role, and I don’t think they get a lot of credit,” Perez says.

A city of Santa Cruz representative agreed, noting that he was a big fan of the model: meeting people where they were at, providing case management options, and successfully transitioning people to regular employment.

Started in 2011, the organization focuses on providing maximum support to advocates, partners and participants with more than 30 case managers in the county. The group aims to connect volunteers with participants to help the unhoused obtain the necessary resources to become housed and self-sufficient, whether that means access to vital documents or rides to different agencies.

Volunteers also offer:

• Help with confusing paperwork
• Guidance in finding and moving furniture
• New, basic household supplies

As Perez says, Wings is small, grassroots, and flies under the radar, embracing a “tiny but mighty” modality.

“They have almost an outsized impact for their size, because some of the things they do are the very things that remove what would otherwise be a barrier to getting housed,” she says. “It could be a simple barrier—birth certificate, vital documents, moving kits—but it’s hard for people to get through that.”

Encompass has had a large outreach countywide since 1973, currently operating 40 programs in behavioral health, family and social well-being and housing services with $30 million in funding and 500-plus employees.

Under the leadership of CEO Monica Martinez—who formerly led Housing Matters as its executive director from 2010 to 2014—the organization touches so many aspects of the homelessness sphere, and is looking to expand those efforts with even more touchpoints.

“Their campus as a whole offers so much,” says Newman, noting the diversity of shelter program options and additional supportive services.

“They continue to work quite a lot in the homeless realm and they still are strong in the youth homelessness realm,” says Perez, noting how impactful the new Youth Resource Center is for the community.

In June, the organization received a $40,000 grant to support a new behavioral health clinic in Watsonville, aiming to serve 1,300 community members annually in substance use disorder and mental health treatments.

For the last 30 years, Families in Transition has worked to provide temporary rental assistance and case management to families experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. From July 2019 through June 2020, the organization’s impact data included:

• 196 families housed
• 359 children housed
• 239 adults housed

Organization affiliates include the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, HUD and HCD, local government boards, and the David & Lucile Packard Foundation.

Perez notes that the organization stands out as a workhorse for its output in the community, and the hard statistics of its impact.

“They consistently do good solid work year in and year out. They also are a really good contributor and participant in the Continuum of Care,” she says. “I think of them, in some ways, as really unsung heroes doing what they do.”

The organization’s website states that people find the tools to build a home in the world. At the working farm of Natural Bridges Farm on the city’s Westside, participants learn about stewardship, conservation and regenerative agricultural principles, receiving the tools to transition into full-time employment across the county and elsewhere.

In 2019, 100 percent of the project’s graduates obtained employment, with 78 percent also finding housing.

The city of Santa Cruz representative was impressed by the group’s “vocational focus,” and the goal to build efficacy for participants in attaining employment skills.

“It’s just the sweetest, most lovely employment program to help people get back on their feet,” says Perez, noting the organization’s efforts to get people access to housing and potentially envisioning housing as part of the model in the future.

On the group’s site, there is also the recently launched “Finding Flatmates” initiative, designed to help the program’s participants find safe and affordable housing.

Additionally, Perez says, everyone loves HGP: “They already get kudos from time to time, and they have gotten awards, but they're good people.”

There were a few other organizations and specific employees that received praise from all four sources, including Loaves and Fishes, Abode Services and Monarch Services. (Links to these organizations below.)

Another common theme echoed by all sources was a continuing sense of who is getting funded and staffed, and what their impact could be with those limited resources. Additionally, Newman raises this question in regard to determining the impact of other community organizations: “How can we do better to ensure service providers for vulnerable populations have some accountability?”

Newman points out that all the agencies addressing homelessness countywide are hustling, and it can be difficult to combine forces without losing traction, and without having data (conducted by the county) on how their efforts are impacting the community.

“The county just isn’t connected with service providers, and the service providers don’t have the bandwidth” to connect one-on-one with individuals on their specific needs, she says. “Everyone wants to, but the county has not dedicated the time to coordinate this stuff. … There needs to be data from local nonprofits to start putting together evidence-based practices.”

Perez also notes a need for data: “What are the realities of the data showing us in terms of successfully housing people? I personally think that’s the best measure of whether somebody’s homelessness is resolved or not.”